Mike Seipel's Corner

What 5 tricks do you consider the hardest tricks in barefooting.  Please list them beginning with the easiest with #5 being the hardest.

1. Reverse 540
2. Reverse Toe Front Feet to Feet
3. Reverse 720
4. Reverse 360 Line Step
5. Reverse Wake to wake 360

Question #2:
What makes each of these tricks so difficult?

1. Reverse 540

• Keeping your feet from catching in the water.
• Keeping the turn continuous without a hesitation.
• The reverse makes everything very awkward.

2. Reverse Toe Front Feet-to-Feet

• Your foot can catch so easily.
• You can loose your balance so easily and fall back on your butt or to one side or the other
• The reverse makes everything very awkward.

3. Reverse 720

• Keeping the turn continuous.
• It is difficult to do without hesitation.
• Your feet can catch easily.
• The reverse makes everything very awkward.

4. Reverse 360 Line Step

• It’s difficult not to catch your feet in the water because your feet are not as big as skies so they catch easily.
• Keeping your balance is difficult because it is easy for your feet to slip out making you fall onto your chest, chin and face or tip to the side.
• The reverse makes everything very awkward.

5. Reverse Wake to wake 360

• Holding your balance and axis is difficult when doing the 360.
• It is difficult to keep good control and balance while you are trying to wrap the handle.
• Timing your jump is difficult because it’s hard not to be anxious which results in starting your jump and rotation too early. This will cause your feet to catch in the water.
• The reverse makes everything very awkward and more difficult.

What is the secret to learning each trick?

1. Reverse 540

• Have super controlled relaxed front-to-backs, back-to-fronts and 360s.
• Learning to rotate and turn keeping your legs relaxed but without bending your legs to unwait.
• Learning to stay tall with our feet flat on the water and ankles relaxed.
• Learning to turn or rotate slowly and keep your balance.
• Think about doing a smooth 360 and follow through with the last 180.

2. Reverse Toe Front Feet-to-Feet

• Keeping your leg that you are turning on straight and relaxed. Don’t bend your leg when you come to the front just keep it relaxed.
• Lean over towards the side of the foot you are standing on immediately after you get forward.
• Learn to keep your leg & ankle that you are standing on relaxed.

3. Reverse 720

• Same as Reverse 540 except more difficult.
• Think about doing a smooth 540 and then follow through with the last 180.

4. Reverse 360 Line Step

• Learn super smooth and controlled line step front-to-backs and back- to-fronts
• Think about keeping your legs close together.

5. Reverse Wake to wake 360

• Don’t be anxious to jump early.
• Learn to time your jump by jumping when you feel the wake.
• Start away from the wake enough so you can learn to get the right amount of speed that will automatically carry you across both wakes.
• Use a shorter rope length so the wake in narrower and resulting in less distance to have to fly across.

Since most people will never do these tricks, I thought I would give some of the same information on a Front-to-Back so people could benefit from it more:

What makes the Front to Back difficult?

• If is hard not to catch your feet in the water
• It is hard to relax

The secret to learning a Front-to-Back

Until you learn and perfect the front to back, the best method to use is to extend the handle as far out in front of you as you possibly can (the farther the better) by bending forwards at the waist and putting your arms straight when you bend your knees a crouch down.

A good way to make sure you have the handle far enough out in front of you when you crouch down is to have your chest directly over your knees right before you initiate your upweight and slow soft pull-in at the same time.

This will allow you to pull the handle in slow and soft enough throughout the whole turn. You must learn to pull in until you get all the way around backwards and catch the handle. Catching the handle backwards will be so much easier if you bend or brake at the waist by concentrating on sticking your butt up in the air by the handle to grab it. Remember to stay relaxed, especially in your legs and ankles with your feet flat on the water. Always keep your feet close together (closer than shoulder width apart). When you do your upweight, concentrate on upweighting from your heels and don’t push on the balls of your feet. Your legs should be straight and relaxed when you grab the handle backwards. Don’t try to keep your legs bent when you are grabbing the handle backwards. Just concentrate on keeping your legs straight and relaxed with your ankles relaxed.

Thanks,

Mike Seipel

Visit Mike Seipel's web site at www.barefootinternational.com